


coffee black and egg white

by varulve



Series: Tumblr Prompts [5]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, implied canon deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 19:25:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6390073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/varulve/pseuds/varulve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>prompt from an anonymous user: “no one needs to know.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	coffee black and egg white

“No one needs to know,” he’s nervous, like a caged animal itching for freedom, half hidden in the shadow of the ball cap tugged down low on his head. “If that’s an issue for you,” he adds gruffly - a little too quickly, his hand twitching self-consciously around the scorching coffee mug. 

His eyes look back at her, peeling away from the stillness of the city at night. They’re out of Hell’s Kitchen, further upstate, in a smaller, more suburban area. Another diner, another night, another meeting she swore she wouldn’t have with him and yet….

Something flickered across her face, he watched as her eyebrows started to furrow, the way her mouth twitched downwards. Fuck. Here it fucking comes, some speech about some bullshit he didn’t care about. He raised the too hot coffee to his mouth and took a long sip.

“Know what, Frank?” she’s mad. No, annoyed might be more accurate. All the same she had that sharpness to her voice, a slightly more frantic way of speaking. She did this, annoyed or excited her words always became more focused, faster. It was an intensity that he was happy, or maybe more accurately lucky, to be able to witness. “Know that I’m hanging out with a- a,” she through a hand in the air, trying to find the right word.

He sighed, shifting back in his booth, “monster? murderer? dead man?” he supplied. Watching as her face hardened and then a hint of guilt flickered there for a moment.

The fight in her shoulders gave and she let her head fall to the side for a moment. “You’re not a monster, you might be a murderer…but you look alive to me,” it wasn’t true. He was breathing, sure, his heart beating strong and steady in his chest but he - Frank Castle - died the day his family did. He was some new beast, even if Karen kept denying it, a monster in the form of a man. “I’m not…ashamed of you, of…whatever we’re doing here,” her words cause him to snap back to full attention. 

“Oh yeah?” he almost smiled, he had to keep himself in check. “So you tell Red and the other one how you have coffee or dinner with the big bad Punisher at least once a week,” part of him is achingly curious about the truth but mostly he is teasing her. 

It seemed to hit the mark, she let her hair fall in front of her face, a small embarrassed half smile forming on her lips. “Just because I don’t tell them doesn’t mean I’m ashamed, Frank,” her voice is soft and she lifts her eyes to meet his.

Something catches in his chest, the look she gives him, her cheeks a soft pink color of embarrassment. He takes a sip of his coffee, hoping to push the feeling away. He’d deal with that later, maybe never - never seemed like a better idea. “No? Well ma’am you coulda fooled me, let’s see who else do you have in your life you could be unashamedly honest with about this,” he nodded at her and pointed a finger at himself. “That, uh, boss of yours and…” he paused, looking at her for help.

The color on her cheeks darkened and he let himself have on smile. “Yeah, yeah that’s what I thought, Red probably knows though - I mean he’s gotta, right?” His eyes flicked back out to stare out the window, “he’s like that. Always seems to know fucking everything,” he shakes his head a little and looks back at her.

She has a small smile on her face that quickly disappears, almost as if he wasn’t supposed to see it. “I haven’t talked to him in awhile,” her voice is hushed, almost ashamed of it. “I see Foggy when he can spare the time, you know, he’s a big deal now and is busy but Matt…. It’s, awkward, you know,” she rubs her arm, looking out the window for a moment. “He would caution me away from this,” she nodded at him. He knew what she had meant tho. “Tell me your dangerous-”

“ _-I am, dangerous._ ” 

“Yeah, but not to me,” her voice is firm and when she turns to look back at him her face is set and sure of herself. “Besides,” her voice drops to a hush, looking around the deserted diner to see where the waitress was. She’d disappeared, maybe on a bathroom break or something. “Matt doesn’t know that I’m dangerous too.” 

That feeling settles firmly in his chest once more, and he nods at her words, smiling as he drains the rest of his now lukewarm coffee as a comfortable silence settled in around them.


End file.
